David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thought I was finished yesterday, but I am glad to be here this morning. I thank the Minister of State for being here.

The various grants the Government has made available to support small businesses are extraordinarily welcome and very important. The increased cost of business grant and the power up grant are the two most recent ones. In every scheme, anomalies will always arise. A number of anomalies has arisen here, which I want to draw attention to this morning, and that I ask the Minister of State and the Department to look at. One is the issue whereby a business is running an operation in a property but it is renting the property and the property owner is paying the tax. This happens because sometimes property owners were left with the rates bill in the past if the business was not paying the rates. The arrangements were made in many cases where the rates cost would be included in the rental cost, and the landlord would pay the rates and would ensure that it was paid. What has happened now is, because the business itself is not paying the rates, it is deemed ineligible for the power up grant and the increased cost of business grant. That is quite unfair.

I have been looking through some of the documentation the Department has put together. In fairness to the Department and the Government, they have done great work in this particular area. The Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, stated that "the priority has been to ensure that as many businesses as possible" in the hospitality and retail sectors that are facing great difficulty due to increased costs of running a business "receive the money as quickly as possible". However, these particular small businesses are now excluded. Another frequently asked question is who is eligible for the grant. The eligibility criteria states: "Your business must be a commercially ... [traded entity] currently operating from a property that is commercially rateable." If the rates are being paid, even indirectly, I contend that we can find a mechanism whereby the business can actually receive the grant and it can be kept in business and keep people employed. It should not be beyond the bounds of possibility to do that.

Other issues have arisen as well. Somebody applied for the increased cost of business grant and did not tick the fact he or she was a retailer. The person might be a retailer anyway, but, for example, if the person was involved in art or something else instead, if he or she goes for the power up grant, the algorithm in the computer the person applied through will not allow him or her go any further and he or she is stopped. The person contacts the local authority, which says it cannot talk about that as it is a Department issue, but there is no one to talk to. There is a number of business owners around the country doing the best they could, were honest and straightforward and did not tick the correct box the first time and now cannot go forward for the power up grant. Again, I ask the Minister, and the Department, if it is listening, to have a look at that and see if there is a way of actually sorting that out.

A third anomaly is if somebody was in a rateable property and rates were being paid, and the person moved to a different property during the course of this particular grant being administered. The person is paying rates on the second property as well. That person also cannot draw down the power up grant because he or she moved properties and the property he or she is in now is different. The person has not had the time involved in paying rates through that property in 2023 to claim it back. The ratepayer needs to talk a person, not a computer, in order to fix that. It is unfair on the people if they have paid the rates and did everything upfront, lawfully and so on. I ask that it be looked at and fixed.

The final issue is slightly unrelated to the point this morning is that the Government has also made grants available for businesses to put solar panels on the roofs of its properties to cut down the cost of electricity. If the property is rented, the landlord or property owner cannot apply because he is not the business owner, and the business owner cannot apply because he does not own the premises. Again, there is a lacuna or anomaly there where nobody wins. Perhaps the Minister of State can shed some light on this.

See this speech in context